Forums > Game Talk > Why isn't the MG elite crying about this yet?
Slug Camargo (583) on 4/18/2010 12:57 AM · edited · Permalink · Report
Go ahead, let's get the indignant whining started: 2K Marin Reviving XCOM As Story-Driven FPS.
For further enragement, know that 2K Marin is the same company that made a BioShock sequel!!! ZOMG raaaaaaaaaaaaaaageeeeeee!!!!
Seriously, though: Me, I trust these guys because they already did a great job on their previous game, and Fallout 3 proved that this idea, however preposterous-sounding, can turn into something very good, so I guess I am onboard.
That said, even I have to admit that their business model would seem to just troll older gamers. I mean, why an XCOM FPS reboot, of all things? The game barely had any story to cling to, so why not simply start an entirely new IP (which is what they will be technically doing anyway)? Is there anyone out there that doesn't foresee legions of old-skool pc gamers chewing their own neckbeards in furious anger?
vedder (70735) on 4/18/2010 1:12 AM · Permalink · Report
I read this a couple days ago and went "WTF?". I never really spent much time on the X-Com games, which is the reason I didn't kill myself yet I guess ;)
But really.
The way I see it, any X-Com fan will want to see something that copies the gameplay of the original but with modern graphics and maybe one or two new features.
Any FPS-aholic will not know what X-Com is and thus making a FPS with the X-Com franchise attached to it has no added value whatsoever.
And then there's the fact that the story of X-Com is flimsy at best. It's more of a setting, but in my (little) experience with the series not a particularly good one. A bit over-cliche and ridiculous. But I guess there's a market for that as well.
Adzuken (836) on 4/18/2010 1:42 AM · Permalink · Report
Sorry, Schadenfreude, it isn't that 2K Marin, according to Destructoid.
Personally, I'm keeping a wait and see attitude towards the new X-COM. As you said, a tactical RPG revived as an FPS has been proven to work. However, I'm not the kind of person you're looking for an opinion from. I was never a very big X-COM fan in the first place, mostly because the first couple games are completely inaccessible, unforgiving, and I totally suck ass at them.
Also, hasn't the X-COM series already been transformed into a space shooter and even a third-person shooter? This seems more like the next logical step for the series.
Slug Camargo (583) on 4/18/2010 3:53 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Adzuken wrote--]I was never a very big X-COM fan in the first place, mostly because the first couple games are completely inaccessible, unforgiving, and I totally suck ass at them. [/Q --end Adzuken wrote--] Really? I remember not only having beaten them (the first two anyway, I hated the third one) but having a lot of fun with them too. There were a lot of buttons and whatnot to deal with, but it was all pretty easy to figure out.
Then again, I was a much more patient and forgiving gamer back then; who knows what I would think of them today...
Adzuken (836) on 4/18/2010 4:19 AM · Permalink · Report
I didn't say they aren't fun, they're just really unforgiving. Every time I pick the game up, I have a blast, right up until, out of nowhere, the game presents some new enemy type that my team is completely unprepared for and can't combat. Then I get frustrated because I have to start from scratch and I move on to some game that's more receptive. I also have a habit of forming attachments to particular team members, and when they inevitably get offed, I have difficulty enjoying the game. I look down on my other team members and say, "You're not (deceased team member). Who are you trying to fool? I hope that tank over there kills you."
Maybe I'm just thick. Perhaps I've gotten so used to the pick-up-and-play games found on the NES and current generation games that force you to play tutorials and constantly hold your hand. Whatever the case may be, I enjoy X-Com, it's just likely going to take me years of false starts to finally get through it.
Parf (7873) on 4/18/2010 6:25 AM · Permalink · Report
I remember loving the first two but, like you, hated the third. So in my mind the first two games were their own little series of great games, whereas any of the new releases to the X-COM series I've totally ignored. So I guess it won't be that hard to not care much about this newest entry as well. ;)
BurningStickMan (17916) on 4/18/2010 5:15 AM · Permalink · Report
We have an "elite"?
Can I be in the elite? Huh? Huh? Can I can I pweeeeeease?
The Fabulous King (1332) on 4/21/2010 7:13 PM · Permalink · Report
Question to Schadenfreude. Who would you consider to be "the MG elite"?
J. P. Gray (115) on 4/21/2010 9:58 PM · Permalink · Report
No neckbeard, but like Enforcer, Interceptor and the scrapped squad FPS, X-COM: Alliance, I don't have any interest in this. That Julian Gollop never wrangled a nice gig like Sid Meier's is a shame. From Chaos to the first X-COM, everything he did was near-perfect.
Spenot (8592) on 4/24/2010 9:54 AM · Permalink · Report
Well, it's not like this is the first time the series gets raped. And basically nobody cares about the setting, while the first two games had a sort of consistency (though I never understood why I couldn't attack downed UFOs on land in Terror from the deep, if I remember correctly), the later games just went nuts with it. It was such a basic setting, that you could say that any turn-based strategy game with aliens took place in the same universe.
lilalurl (733) on 4/24/2010 10:46 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Spenot wrote--] (though I never understood why I couldn't attack downed UFOs on land in Terror from the deep, if I remember correctly)[/Q --end Spenot wrote--]
Because in TFTD, UFOs actually are Unidentified S(Sailling underwater) Objects. Therefore the X-com ships are actually submarine ships. The Terror Missions are on land though because they happen in port cities.
And back on the thread topic, why care so much about it. It is just a game franchise. Perhaps the FPS will be good, who knows.
If it was a turn-based game that was planned and without any input from Gollop, I would be more worried.
UFO: Extraterrestrials with the right mods (Bman's ease of use and others) provides a pretty satisfying result of what a modern X-Com could be I believe. And the freeware UFO: Alien Invasion is quite a decent alternative too, although a bit "raw" on some aspects.
Spenot (8592) on 4/24/2010 1:40 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start lilalurl wrote--] [Q2 --start Spenot wrote--] (though I never understood why I couldn't attack downed UFOs on land in Terror from the deep, if I remember correctly) [/Q2 --end Spenot wrote--] Because in TFTD, UFOs actually are Unidentified S(Sailling underwater) Objects. Therefore the X-com ships are actually submarine ships. The Terror Missions are on land though because they happen in port cities. [/Q --end lilalurl wrote--] Hah, I never noticed that they were port cities :)). But still, it didn't make that much sense, seeing that the X-Com subs were on land during Terror Missions (well they may be some sort of hovercrafts, but whatever). It would've been more awesome if you could have sent out some Skyrangers with your troops just for the UFOs downed over land.
Luis Silva (13443) on 4/25/2010 4:29 PM · Permalink · Report
I'm not concerned about the genre. I'm concerned about the setting. What made the first X-COM great was how it captured the early-mid 90s infatuation with ufology and conspiracy theories (powered by many geocities pages and The X-Files), combined with ideas from a 60s british TV series and applied it to a very deep strategy game, resulting on what's perhaps the greatest ever. The game had that "what if this is really happening and we don't know?" feeling, something the sci-fi sequels lack.
Any new game in the series must go back to square one - identify the original influences on the game, combine with the core elements of the first game, and then make a solid game out of it.
Slug Camargo (583) on 5/8/2010 4:57 AM · edited · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Foxhack wrote--] Set in the 1950's. [/Q --end Foxhack wrote--] Well, that does it. They can call it The Adventures Of The Baby Smothering Nazi Taliban for all I care, I'm more sold than I already was. Here, 2K, you can have my wallet.
Screw space marines and dragon-slaying elves, this is the stuff that pure win is made of.
Edit: And by the by, if you can get a GNR-style radio station in there too, I'll be buying two.
Foxhack (32100) on 5/8/2010 3:20 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze wrote--]Edit: And by the by, if you can get a GNR-style radio station in there too, I'll be buying two.[/Q --end Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze wrote--]Your sentence confused me.
Why would you want Axl Rose in the game?
YOUR LOOOOOOOOVE IS LIKE BAAAAAAAAAAAD MEDICIIIIIIIIIIIIINE
chirinea (47496) on 5/8/2010 3:26 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start Foxhack wrote--] [Q2 --start Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze wrote--]Edit: And by the by, if you can get a GNR-style radio station in there too, I'll be buying two. [/Q2 --end Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze wrote--]Your sentence confused me.
Why would you want Axl Rose in the game?
YOUR LOOOOOOOOVE IS LIKE BAAAAAAAAAAAD MEDICIIIIIIIIIIIIINE [/Q --end Foxhack wrote--]I was already confused when I saw GNR there, but then you come and quote Bon Jovi? WTF?
Foxhack (32100) on 5/8/2010 10:04 PM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start chirinea wrote--] [Q2 --start Foxhack wrote--] [Q3 --start Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze wrote--]Edit: And by the by, if you can get a GNR-style radio station in there too, I'll be buying two. [/Q3 --end Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze wrote--]Your sentence confused me.
Why would you want Axl Rose in the game?
YOUR LOOOOOOOOVE IS LIKE BAAAAAAAAAAAD MEDICIIIIIIIIIIIIINE [/Q2 --end Foxhack wrote--]I was already confused when I saw GNR there, but then you come and quote Bon Jovi? WTF? [/Q --end chirinea wrote--]... They both suck so much I tend to put them together. :p
Daniel Saner (3503) on 5/9/2010 12:09 AM · Permalink · Report
Common dilemma with franchises. Remember the second X-Files movie that came out a few years ago? It got ridiculously awful reviews from just about any publication or reviewer, all your friends told you it sucked balls and you should save your money, but you just had to go see it anyway. You watched the series and the first movie, after all, and even if it's a piece of turd, how could you pass up this last chapter and risk missing that final little piece of information wrapping up a plotline that has been driving you nuts since the show was cancelled?
What's even sadder than the marketing move itself is that it works on me, every time!.
Slug Camargo (583) on 5/9/2010 12:36 AM · edited · Permalink · Report
To me, X-Files was dead right after the aliens storyline was closed (in season 6 or 7, can't remember correctly). Everything after that was just jump-sharking rubbish, and I couldn't care any less about it. I did see the last episode of the last season, though, and I felt glad I had stopped watching when I did.
And I didn't bother to even torrent the second movie. X-Files without CancerMan? Motherfuck that bullshit >=(
Daniel Saner (3503) on 5/9/2010 12:41 AM · Permalink · Report
You do have some valid points there. Although I still liked the last seasons - it was no longer comparable to the earlier seasons, but I enjoyed them as good episodes in their own right. I do have to admit though that I don't remember much of them, so their "monster of the week" nature certainly wasn't as impressive. However I also remember having enjoyed the series finale a lot, wrapping it all up in a nice roundabout way. Going to have to dig that one out again sometime.
Slug Camargo (583) on 5/9/2010 12:51 AM · edited · Permalink · Report
Well maybe I was just not an out-and-out X-Files fan. Not an inconditional one anyway. I only consider the episodes that have to do with the aliens story arc and neglect pretty much all the filling ones (with the exception of 4 or 5 very good ones).
And I'm applying the same behavior to Fringe. I hate when series have a story to tell and instead of focusing just go about artifically extending the season with random stuff. The musical last week was beyond retarded. What is it with Americans and musicals anyway? o_O
The Fabulous King (1332) on 5/9/2010 2:04 AM · Permalink · Report
Every wannabe cult show wants to do a musical nowadays. Because Xena had two, Buffy had one and Lexx had one.
Lexx and Xena did their musicals before Buffy. And then, with the recent cult success of Dr.Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and the mainstream success of Glee, it was just the way to go for Fringe.
Fringe is stalling and I can't say for sure because I don't follow the series that closely, but I remember hearing that this season's procedural nature is because of some behind the scenes politics.
You seem like a HBO person anyway, why bother with this network stuff at all?
Unicorn Lynx (181780) on 5/9/2010 4:58 AM · Permalink · Report
Buffy had one
Ahh, the Buffy musical... Season 6... It's too awesome to be true :)
Walk.. through the... FIRE!!! :))
Err... sorry... got carried away.
Slug Camargo (583) on 5/14/2010 4:26 AM · edited · Permalink · Report
I sort of have been told something along those lines in the past, but frankly the only HBO show I ever got hooked with was Carnivale, and that one promptly got the chop, so I guess I'm less of a HBO person than for some reason I seem to lead people to believe.
Conversely, I'm into quite a few of "this network stuff", only I seem to like all the wrong shows: Lost might be the only show I ever cared for which wasn't cancelled somewhere along the second season. In fact, right now I was beginning to fall in love with ABC's Happy Town, and guess what I just read... =(
As for Fringe, I wouldn't know about the spicy inside details, but I'm convinced that J. J. Abrams' writing skills are way overrated, and he's actually quite prone to this "filler episodes" policy (I'm told he did this all the time in Alias). That said, I believe it was his presence in the early days which saved Lost from getting axed prematurely, so I sort of owe that to him.
Daniel Saner (3503) on 5/15/2010 12:43 PM · Permalink · Report
Not a fan of Fringe either. It started out as a nice idea, until they completely dropped the "science" part of Fringe Sciences about 2 or 3 episodes in. The dialogue rarely makes any sense, which is why I can't decide if the actors are even to blame for it feeling so cheesy. And the production values just don't feel right. It tries to look expensive, but seems to be several notches below other primetime shows. I think the monster of the week format could still work though, if done right.
Fringe is such an X Files carbon copy though, they didn't even bother to change the title theme (it's basically a remix of the X Files theme). You can even do a pretty quick and obvious 1:1 mapping of the characters... the believing agent, the doubting sidekick, head of the agency, even the cigarette smoking man is present... okay, so the three nerds (The Lone Gunmen) were condensed into one crazy genius character :)